According to court documents, between December 27, 2010, and April 12, 2011, law enforcement agents noticed an individual sharing child pornography over the internet using a peer-to-peer filing sharing software. One of the IP addresses the individual was using was registered to an apartment in Davis where three female UC Davis students lived. All three denied accessing or distributing child pornography. With the residents’ permission, the agents used a computer program and a directional antenna to find the individual involved in the file sharing. This led to Norris, who lived nearby in the same apartment complex and had gained unauthorized access to the students’ password‑protected network.

At the time of his arrest on April 12, 2011, Norris had child pornography on his computer, including files that he had distributed to law enforcement approximately four days earlier.

This case is the product of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Matthew G. Morris and Shelley D. Weger are prosecuting the case.

Norris is scheduled to be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Kimberly J. Mueller on August 2, 2017. Norris faces a mandatory minimum of five years in prison and a statutory maximum of 20 years in prison. The actual sentence, however, will be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of any applicable statutory factors and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of variables.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute those who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc. Click on the “resources” tab for information about internet safety education.